Early ball bar measuring machine tests encouraging. (News Briefs).NIST's Large Scale Coordinate Metrology Group is testing a newly designed ball bar measuring machine on loan from the University of Florida University of Florida is the third-largest university in the United States, with 50,912 students (as of Fall 2006) and has the eighth-largest budget (nearly $1.9 billion per year). UF is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. (UF) Machine Tool Research Center. Designed and funded as part of the Shop Floor as a National Measurement Institute Program, this machine is a single purpose measuring machine intended for determining the length of ball bars with extremely low uncertainty. Ball bars are frequently used as transfer standards of lengths, especially for Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs). As CMM (Capability Maturity Model) A process developed by SEI in 1986 to help improve, over time, the application of an organization's supporting software technologies. usage becomes more widespread, the need for rapid and accurate measurement of ball bars is growing. This machine allows the length of a ball bar to be traceable to the SI unit through laser interferometers using an ingenious self-mastering technique. UF professors consulted with NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. staff on the initial design. The instrument uses air bearings, laser interferometers, and kinematic kin·e·mat·ics n. (used with a sing. verb) The branch of mechanics that studies the motion of a body or a system of bodies without consideration given to its mass or the forces acting on it. mounts to measure ball bars. The machine will allow ball bar calibrations to be performed as accurately as the best CMMs, but much faster and at lower cost. CONTACT: Steve Phillips
Steve Francis Phillips (born on May 18, 1963) was the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997-2003. , (301) 975-3565; steven. phillips @nist.gov. |
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